Top all-time · #1002
Brian Merchant
Personal blog · bloodinthemachine.comaieconomicscareer
Brian Merchant writes Blood in the Machine, a personal blog at bloodinthemachine.com about ai, economics and career. Since 2024, 66 different Hacker News readers have linked it 82 times, most often “Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
Writing and reporting on AI, tech, labor and power. For everyone Silicon Valley is happening to. Click to read Blood in the Machine, by Brian Merchant, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
Most-linked posts?
- Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2025-12-13
- AI Killed My Job: Tech Workers4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2025-06-25
- AI is propping up the US economy4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2025-08-05
- AI Killed My Job: Translators3 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2025-08-26
- /s/ai-killed-my-job3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-12-14
- AI can't fix what automation already broke3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-06-18
- Flyover Country: What a future where iPhones are made in America would look like2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2025-04-08
- How to quit Spotify2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-11-28
- The Weaponization of Waymo2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2025-06-10
- Why is Sam Altman so obsessed with 'Her'? An investigation2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-05-22
What Hacker News says?
It's still worse than useless : https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/ai-killed-my-job-transla...
Comment linking /p/ai-killed-my-job-translators
on “Fire destroys S. Korean government's cloud storage system, no backups available”Submitted AI is propping up the US economy as a story · 324 points
HN discussionThis is the AI adding more "growth" to the US economy than all consumer spending combined. "The AI bubble is so big it's propping up the US economy" - https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-ai-bubble-is-so-big-...
Comment linking /p/the-ai-bubble-is-so-big-its-propping
on “You did this with an AI and you do not understand what you're doing here”Submitted Behind Silicon Valley and the GOP’s campaign to ban state AI laws as a story · 115 points
HN discussionWe already have that, it's called prison labor. The current regime will certainly ramp that up and throw even more people into forced labor camps.[1] BTW we don't talk enough about the gigantic loophole in the thirteenth amendment: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted , shall exist within the United States, or any place subject t…
Comment linking /p/flyover-country
on “America underestimates the difficulty of bringing manufacturing back”Submitted Silicon Valley is in denial in face of widespread backlash as a story · 107 points
HN discussionVXUS Not investing advice; the bottom 490 companies in the S&P500 are nominally flat since 2022 and down against inflation, GPUs and AI hype are holding everything together at the moment. > In simpler terms, 35% of the US stock market is held up by five or six companies buying GPUs. If NVIDIA's growth story stumbles, it will reverberate through the rest of the Magnificent 7, making them rely on their own AI trade st…
Comment linking /p/the-ai-bubble-is-so-big-its-propping
on “Where's the shovelware? Why AI coding claims don't add up”Submitted Silicon Valley's capture of our political institutions is all but complete as a story · 98 points
HN discussionMaybe in a few decades or so, but medium-term, there seems to be a race of who can built the largest data centers. https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-ai-bubble-is-so-big-...
Comment linking /p/the-ai-bubble-is-so-big-its-propping
on “AI is different”Submitted AI is an attack from above on wages": cognitive scientist Hagen Blix as a story · 76 points
HN discussionyou’re using “he loves the movie” as some sort of defense, when the movie is a pretty standard sci fi cautionary tale. You know the saying: sci-fi author: I wrote about the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale tech bros: Finally we have built the Torment Nexus from beloved sci fi story “Do not build the Torment Nexus” Enjoying a story is not justification for recreating any artifact that occurs within the story. Her i…
Comment linking /p/why-is-sam-altman-so-obsessed-with
on “Sam Altman is showing us who he really is”Submitted Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry as a story · 71 points
HN discussionWe don't need AGI to cause a massive amount of disruption. If leadership of companies want to force use these LLMs, which is what we've been experiencing the last two years, workers will be forced to use them. It's not like there is an organic bottom up movement on driving this usage. It's always top down mandated by executives with little regard on how it impacts worker's lives. We've also seen how these tools have…
Comment linking /p/how-ai-is-killing-jobs-in-the-tech-f39
on “OpenAI eats jobs, then offers to help you find a new one at Walmart”Submitted AI Is Smoke and Mirrors as a story · 71 points
HN discussionShouldn't the OP link to the original story, not a short blog post referencing it? https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/i-was-forced-to-use-ai-u...
Comment linking /p/i-was-forced-to-use-ai-until-the
on “Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"”Submitted GPT-5 is a joke. Will it matter? as a story · 47 points
HN discussionEven that short changes the original source: https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/i-was-forced-to-use-ai-u... I bookmarked the series which looks exactly like what everyone in tech is saying ISN’T happening: https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/s/ai-killed-my-job But I’m sure somebody will blow this off as “it’s only three examples and is not really representative” But if it is representative… “then it’s not as bad as o…
Comment linking /s/ai-killed-my-job
on “Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"”Submitted For tech CEOs, the dystopia is the point as a story · 46 points
HN discussionMy additional commentary on this one is not worth much - I suggest reading the original article instead: https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/i-was-forced-to-use-ai-u...
Comment linking /p/i-was-forced-to-use-ai-until-the
on “Willison on Merchant's "Copywriters reveal how AI has decimated their industry"”Submitted The AI industry is pouring millions into US elections as a story · 45 points
HN discussionCos dictionary substitution is good enough /s https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/ai-killed-my-job-transla...
Comment linking /p/ai-killed-my-job-translators
on “AI Is Wrecking Young Americans' Job Prospects”Submitted The AI jobs crisis is here, now as a story · 35 points
HN discussionIf anyone is curious about automation and people's/worker's reaction to it, I recommend Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech by Brian Merchant: > The most urgent story in modern tech begins not in Silicon Valley but two hundred years ago in rural England, when workers known as the Luddites rose up rather than starve at the hands of factory owners who were using automated machines to er…
Comment linking /p/introducing-blood-in-the-machine
on “MIT study finds AI can replace 11.7% of U.S. workforce”Submitted Silicon Valley got what it wanted as a story · 31 points
HN discussionAlready happened for copywriters, translators, and others in the tech industry: https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/s/ai-killed-my-job
Comment linking /s/ai-killed-my-job
on “Opus 4.5 is the first model that makes me fear for my job”Submitted Let's not do this again, please as a story · 29 points
HN discussionI saw a talk by Brian Merchant ( https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/ ) a while back where he talked a lot about the Luddites and their revolts against automation. He's definitely not a fan of AI, but it was very interesting to hear the comparisons of AI resistance now to Luddite resistance to automation in the 1800's. There was unfortunately no Q&A in the lecture, as probably the one question I would have asked him w…
Comment linking /
on “The AI Backlash Could Get Ugly”Submitted Torching the Google car: Why the growing revolt against big tech just escalated as a story · 28 points
HN discussion"a vision of a poverty-stricken America where US Foxconn factories have sections for precarious day laborers as well as for detained migrants and “criminals,” all compelled to assemble an endless stream of iPhones" https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/flyover-country
Comment linking /p/flyover-country
on “White House says iPhones can be made in the U.S. It won't be easy”Submitted Why office workers are turning against AI as a story · 27 points
HN discussion
